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IRONMAN Takes New York

With just a few hours to go before the inaugural IRONMAN U.S. Championship here in New York the city is gearing up for a big day of racing.

By Kevin Mackinnon

"How can you not get excited?" Michael Lovato replied to the question of whether or not athletes were excited to be here in one of the world’s most iconic cities. "There’s so much energy here. A lot of people signed up for this race just because of the city."

Lovato isn’t joking. The IRONMAN U.S. Championship filled in no time, in part thanks to the 480 athletes from New York City (along with the 65 from Brooklyn) who are relishing the chance to race from in their hometown.

Coordinating a race in one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas is an incredible challenge, but the race crew here in New York have done an amazing job getting it all together. Athletes will be heading over to the transition area in New Jersey bright and early tomorrow morning – the ferries start running at 3:30 AM. They will then take another ferry up the river to start the point-to-point swim. After riding through New Jersey, the athletes will return to transition at the end of the bike and do the first 14 miles of their run in New Jersey before running across the George Washington Bridge and working their way to the finish line in Riverside Park in Manhattan.

There are 476 women signed up for tomorrow’s race (17 percent of the field), along with 2,243 men. The largest age group will be M40-44, with 515 athletes. The largest women’s group is also 40-44 – there are 106 women signed up in that category. We have 44 countries represented in the event, too.

The pro race is, in a word, stacked. With 4,000 Kona Rankings Points on the line, along with $125,000, this championship has attracted one of the largest pro fields we’re likely to see in 2012.

The list of favorites in the men’s race is hard to narrow down. Jordan Rapp legitimately wears race #1 tomorrow, which is all-too-appropriate after his impressive win at Memorial Hermann IRONMAN Texas in May. To win here, though, he’s going to have to beat some fast, fit athletes including Michael Lovato, who has proven he can win in hot, humid conditions after his impressive win in Cozumel last November. Maik Twelsiek can ride with the best of them, so look for him to be a player throughout the first two legs of the race – he’ll need to come off the bike ahead of the group though if he’s going to hold off the fast runners in this field.

As always the Aussie connection is strong – Luke Bell has been racing well all year, Paul Ambrose has had a fantastic season that includes a win at IRONMAN Australia in May and Chris McDonald seems to always race well in these kind of events. Add to all of that group the likes of former IRONMAN Utah champ Mathias Hecht and last year’s IRONMAN Lake Placid champ, TJ Tollakson and you have the makings of an incredible race.

The women’s race is every bit as stacked as the men’s. Mary Beth Ellis wears the first women’s number – 50 – which is once again appropriate after her incredible 2011 year where she won three IRONMAN races, including an impressive 8:43:34 debut in Austria. 2012 has been impressive, too, thanks to her win at IRONMAN Texas in May. Amy Marsh won IRONMAN Brazil last year and will likely be one of the fastest swim/bikers in the field. She’ll be joined by Dede Griesbauer, who is coming off a number of injuries (including a broken back), but seems to be very fit. Rebekah Keat now feels completely over the torn calf that plagued much of her early season racing – if she is, she’ll be another woman to watch for tomorrow. Kate Bevilaqua has won her fair share of IRONMAN races, so she, too, could be a contender tomorrow, especially if the race turns into a suffer-fest, which it is likely to do. Another Aussie to watch is IRONMAN Australia champ Michelle Mitchell. Finally, making her IRONMAN debut here tomorrow is Laurel Wassner, who comes to the full distance from the short-course ranks. Wassner isn’t just a great athlete, she’s a walking inspirational story, too – 14 years ago she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and has not only overcome the disease, she’s managed to put together an impressive triathlon career, too.

The bottom line is this race promises to be a barn-burner – exactly the kind of things New Yorkers both love and expect from their sporting events.

We’ll have live coverage of tomorrow’s race including live text updates, video, athlete tracking and more right here on ironman.com.